Technical Field
The present invention relates to gas sensors, and more particularly to a portable SnO2/noble metal gas sensor architecture with an integrated heater for detecting hydrocarbons, such as, methane gas.
Description of the Related Art
Oxide based gas sensors are widely employed in many different industries, e.g., coal mines, fuel production, building intake air quality control, oil and gas (to measure and manage fugitive gases), etc. Commercial oxide based sensors have large power consumption due to the elevated temperature required by the sensor element to achieve high sensitivity and selectivity. State of the art commercial gas sensors work at temperatures between 400 degrees C. and 550 degrees C. The high temperature requirement causes large power consumption that needs to be supplied to a heater element.
Selectivity of the sensor toward different gases is difficult to implement, and factory based calibration may not hold in environments where multiple gases are mixed in the air. On-board calibrating solutions for the sensor can overcome erroneous reading or false alarms in the field.